t
Brachia portendens, & verberat Ictibus auras,
Quaeritur huic alius:----

'Gainst whom those noble Knights did run,
Sir _Chion_ and the rest,
But, still _Tom Thumb_ with all his Might
Did bear away the best.

Et primum ante omnes victorem appellat Acesten.

At the same time our Poet shews a laudable Partiality for his Hero, he
represents Sir _Lancelot_ after a manner not unbecoming so bold and
brave a Knight.

At last Sir _Lancelot_ of _Lake_,
In manly sort came in,
And with this stout and hardy Knight
A Battle to begin.

Huic contra AEneas, speculatus in agmine longo
Obvius ire parat----

Which made the Courtiers all aghast.

Obstupuere animi----

This Canto concludes with the Presents made by the King to the Champion
according to the Custom of the _Greeks_ and _Romans_ in such Cases; only
his tumbling thro' the Queen's Ring is observable, and may serve to give
some Light into the Original of that ingenious Exercise so much
practis'd by the Moderns, of tumbling thro' an Hoop.

The last Canto treats of the Champion's Sickness and Death, and whoever
considers the Beauty, Regularity and majestic Simplicity of the
Relation, cannot but be surpris'd at the Advances that may be made in
Poetry by the Strength of an uncultivated Genius, and may see how far
Nature can proceed without the Ornamental Helps and Assistances of Art.
The Poet don't attribute his Sickness to a Debauch, to the Irregularity
or Intemperance of his Life, but to an Exercise becoming an Hero; and
tho' he dies quietly in his Bed, he may be said in some measure to die
in the Bed of Honour. And to shew the great Affection the King had for
him, he sends for his Physicians, and orders all the Care imaginable to
be taken for the Conservation of his Life.

He being slender and tall,
This cunning Doctor took
A fine perspective Glass, with which,
He did in Secret look.

It is a Wonder that the learned World shou'd differ so in their Opinions
concerning the Invention and Antiquity of Optic Glasses, and that any
one should contend for _Metius_ of _Alcmaer_, or, as Dr. _Plot_ does,
for _Fryar Bacon_, when, if this Author had been consulted, Matters
might have been so easily adjusted. Some great Men indeed wou'd prove
from hence, our Knight was the Inventor of 'em, that his Valet might the
more commodiously see to dress him; but if we consider there were no
Beau's in that Age, or reflect more maturely